218 Cars / 908 Axles - BNSF, KCS, BNSF + 3 BNSF DPU Helpers - Longest Tank Train I Have Ever Seen in Person = 5/7/19

One thing I'm noticing, last month into this month, more BNSF H2 paint schemes are being seen in Northeast Ohio.

That one is a ready-made train handling challenge.  It's really two trains made into one.  I'd be very interested to have ridden in the cab to see how the train was being handled.  Since these were empties, there would have been no significant sloshing, but, on the other hand, they're empties, which increases the potential for reaction to hard run-ins of slack.

Not saying this can't be done, but that train certainly is a challenge, requiring a lot of thought and planning by the Engineer.  There's your Precision Scheduled Railroading at work -- a very long train using one crew and no DP at the rear.  And it succeeded.  

Nice grab Tom. That patch is an AC unit from a Warbonnet painted G.E.

Gosh, we would need approx. 3.77 Big Boys to pull that train !

I'm amazed you would have started and continued to count the cars. I'd have lost count, or just given up and watched.

Number 90 posted:

  There's your Precision Scheduled Railroading at work -- a very long train using one crew and no DP at the rear.  And it succeeded.  

This time.  Lots of room for problems in regular service, it seems.  Wouldn't a second crew be cheap insurance?

I notice that the power units had a boxcar sandwiched in before the first tank car, is that a common practice, or just how the yard built the train?

Ron_S posted:

I notice that the power units had a boxcar sandwiched in before the first tank car, is that a common practice, or just how the yard built the train?

Required practice; As far as I know, all trains with a flammable cargo need at least one buffer between it and the engine(s). 

Ron_S posted:

I notice that the power units had a boxcar sandwiched in before the first tank car, is that a common practice, or just how the yard built the train?

That's a buffer car. Basically safety regulations require some sort of neutral non-revenue car (usually a boxcar or hopper filled with sand) to separate the motive power from the explodey goodness. Sometimes there is one right behind the locomotives, sometimes they are placed at both ends of the train, and at least one railroad requires two buffer cars between the locomotives and train.

---PCJ

Temporarily leaving my post as the self-appointed Information Minister of the Isle of Denial, I have to say that was a good catch. Impressive.

From a safety perspective, it makes sense, I had just never paid close attention when seeing or passing a tank car freight when out and about. With how violent a derailment can be, I have been at the scene just after a major one in the Columbia Gorge about 10 years ago, one seems like bare minimum, as a former pilot and safety officer, I know how far liquids can splatter, fly or flow and once ignited, make a conflagration to light the skies.

Love the pic with the AC unit replacement.